“Building Your Future...This Year, Every Year”

“Building Your Future” - eEdNews

Phi Chi Theta Educational Foundation

Spring is in the air, as is the buzz and excitement of freshly minted business professionals entering the workforce.  With graduation on the horizon, this is a time of great pride as you prepare to transition to the business world.  Through your coursework and involvement in extra-curricular activities you have gained an understanding and demonstrated the core competencies that will be required to succeed in the global business arena.  Now it’s time to move on to the next challenge.  For some, you’ll be moving on to a new chapter in your life, filled with new goals and aspirations for personal and professional achievement.  For others, it’ll be a step up to the next rung on the corporate ladder.  But for all of you this is a time to celebrate the hard work and dedication to your studies and looking forward to building your own future. 

 

In this special issue of eEdNews we celebrate the achievements of the Phi Chi Theta Class of 2007, and share some words of advice and lessons learned to help ease that transition.  Transitions that include  taking a new job or promotion, taking time off to backpack through Europe, joining the Peace Corp, or going on to graduate school.  We also take a look at “Where Are They Now?” by profiling past scholarship winners and the paths that their lives have taken since graduation.  Finally, we have a special “Get to Know Us” interview with David Durham, a new Board member and Phi Chi Theta’s National Vice President of Alumni Affairs. 

 

As you begin this important transition, just remember that your Phi Chi Theta family has been an important aspect of your growth and that we are proud of what you have accomplished.  As a family, we’ll continue to be there to support you as you move onto the next stages of your life.  We know your involvement will fade, and soon Phi Chi Theta will be a distant memory.  But your commitment to the Phi Chi Theta family is for a lifetime.  We hope that you will remember this, and continue to support the family in whatever capacity you can and within your means.  We hope that you will find a way to “give back” so that future generations can share and experience in the business education and training opportunities afforded to every member.   

 

The Board of Trustees’ congratulates you on achieving this milestone in your life, and we wish you all the best in all of your future endeavors.

Congratulations to the

Class of 2007

Volume 1, Issue 5, April 2007
Text Box: Scholarship Applications are Due May 1 It’s not to late to apply… $2,500 worth of scholarships is up for grabs this year. Download the Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat PDF application and apply today. Text Box: April is Volunteer Appreciation Month Commit yourself to making a difference in your community Ask your employer about firm sponsored events or providing the flexibility to their employees to take time off Donate your time by serving meals, building a home, cleaning a highway, Walking for Life, volunteering your services Support the community where you and your family prosper Text Box: In This Issue Congratulations to the Class of 2007 Some Words of Wisdom for the Class of 2007 Past Scholarship Winners—Where Are They Now? “Get to Know Us”—An Interview with David Durham Text Box: Oscar Ou Sing-Hong (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Integrated Supply Management—Heading to Calgary, Alberta, Canada and search for a job and might enter the University of Calgary for Graduate School Emily Pedersen (Delta Sigma), B.B.A International Business—Going to work for the Department of Homeland Security as a Program Analyst Kathleen Anne Rudoph (Zeta Gamma), Finance—Currently working at Wellspring Valuation, a Huron Consulting group practice as a consultant for the valuation group Jackie Sassin (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Marketing Danielle Shurkus (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Integrated Supply Management—Plan on moving to Brandon, FL Taneeka Staples (Alpha Mu), B.S. Marketing—Going to work for Techtronic Industries as a Field Sales Representative Stephanie Stocks (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Management Alan Witthuhn (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Integrated Supply Management—Going to work for Deere and Company as an Associate in the Supply Management Development Program Tarek Zaidan (Alpha Mu), B.S. Finance, B.S. International Business—Going to work for Booz Allen Hamilton Text Box: Natasha Gibbons (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. HR, Psychology, and Spanish—Attending grad school for M.H.R.I.R. at U of Illinois-Urbana Lindsey Grant (Delta Sigma), B.B.A Hospitality and Tourism Management—Work for the Bohemian Club in San Francisco for the summer then work in the private club industry at a TBD club. Jenna Gurtshaw (Alpha Mu), B.S. LTSCM—Going to Ocean City, MD over the summer Camille Harris (Alpha Mu), B.S. Marketing and International Business—Moving to Berkeley, CA and will be working for The Marketing Group or the Nielsen Company Tiffany Hawkins (Alpha Mu), B.S. Marketing and LTSCM—Going to work for Accenture as a Consulting Analyst Heather Jongebloed (Gamma Iota) Vicki Karadimas (Alpha Mu), B.S. Finance—Moving to Baltimore, MD to work for T. Rowe Price as an Investment Operations Officer Gulbet Kiros (Alpha Mu), B.S. Finance, B.A. Economics Stephanie Lam (Alpha Mu), B.S. Marketing and LTSCM—Going to work for JP Morgan Chase Text Box: Dean Allen (Alpha Mu), B.S. Finance—Moving to Philadelphia, PA and will be working for the Vanguard Group/Analyst and Client Engagement Program Tenille Aming (Alpha Mu), B.S. Finance—Going to work for Rio Grande Café Racquel Ankney (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Advertising and Promotion—Looking to work within an agency in either Chicago or Atlanta area. Ayush Bansal (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Marketing and Finance—Want to work for 1 year to learn American work culture and then proceed to do masters in management from top 25 Business Schools in USA Izzie Beck (Zeta Gamma), Masters in Accounting Science—Going to work for Deere & Co. in the Finance Development Program Jessica Bennett (Delta Sigma), B.B.A Economics Janessa Borri (Zeta Gamma), B.S. Business Administration—Plans to work on her MBA at the University of Illinois Josh Brockway (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Finance and International and Comparative Political Science—Going to law school Craig Bujold (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Management—Going to South Korea for a year to teach English conversation

Some Words of Wisdom for the Class of 2007

Michael Van Roy (Epsilon Zeta – San Jose State University), a 10 year alumnus of Phi Chi Theta and member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.  Mike maintains close ties with our West coast membership base and recently accompanied the Phi Chi Theta Executive Director and Western Regional Director on a visit to the Delta Chi Chapter at Chico State. 

 

We asked him to share some words of wisdom with the Class of 2007 based upon his own lessons learned and first hand experiences on the realities of transitioning from collegiate life to the professional business world.  We hope that you will take his advice to heart and can avoid some of the common pitfalls that occur during this transition.

Text Box: Congratulations...Time to Move Forward—First off, we would like to congratulate you on a job well done. Your hard work and persistence have paid off. The best career advice I can give you is be wary of employers who will not give you a copy of the job description during the interviews. Either the employer has not done a proper job analysis or there is something about the job they aren't telling you. However, judging by the number of you who have already secured positions in companies or are going on to graduate school your education thus far has paid off very well! Others are seeking activities that are more adventurous, such as traveling across Europe or teaching English abroad. My advice to you, if you have the means, is to do such activities while you are young – the time gets much more difficult to find when you are older. Many of you are moving to new cities (perhaps for the first time), proposing to your significant others, and I have been sworn to secrecy but some of you can expect to be proposed to! Text Box: Brittany Burch (Alpha Mu), B.S. Marketing and Logistics—Traveling to Las Vegas and Europe this summer Cameron Burnett (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Accounting, Management—Moving to Detroit in August to start working for KPMG as a Tax Associate in the IES department starting in September Anne Cannon (Alpha Mu), B.S. General Business—Traveling through Europe. Interested in Public Relations/Event Planning Thomas Carpenter (Delta Sigma), B.B.A Economics and Finance—Going to law school Jessica Colombo (Alpha Mu), B.S.—Going to work at JP Morgan Chase Ron Dalal (Alpha Mu), B.S. Finance—Going to work for Goldman Sachs Rudy Dinglas (Alpha Mu), B.S. Marketing Dana Fiore (Delta Sigma), B.B.A Marketing—Want to work with a marketing firm in New York, NY Arianne Flintoff (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Advertising & Promotion—Internship in an advertising agency, Moving to Sydney Australia to work as a Creative in the ad industry and eventually going to graduate school  Text Box: Stay Connected—It will be a busy but exciting time in your life, and the adult world will be here before you know it. Your college and Phi Chi Theta experiences will become distant memories - but what wonderful memories they are! We know you will be building a new network of friends and business associates. My advice is to maintain your college contacts as well. This takes work but there are more tools to help you than when I was your age. Technology for networking has improved and there are many inexpensive ways to keep your networks current. Set up a LinkedIn account or a Yahoo network. E-mail your friends a couple times a year and let everyone know what you are doing. It may seem hokey, but sending holiday cards is a good way to let your old friends know you are still thinking about them. Text Box: Priorities Change—As you transition into the "real world”, we understand that your priorities will start to focus on establishing your career and defining your goals and objectives, both professional and personal.  You will be building a new network of friends and business associates and it will be easy to forget about your Phi Chi Theta brothers and sisters. Do not say it will not happen to you – it happened to me and I regret it very much now.   As your life and priorities change, we ask that you keep those fond Phi Chi Theta memories alive by keeping both the Fraternity and the Foundation on your minds. We know you may not have the time to be a national officer or serve on a committee or become a Trustee; and we're definitely not expecting you to commit hours of your time attending professional speaker events designed for college students, participating in Rush events, doing bake sales and car washes, etc.  However, many ways to remain connected to Phi Chi Theta do not require a lot of time.  Text Box: Andrew Lebron (Epsilon Gamma), B.B.A. Personal Financial Planning—Going to work for Wells Fargo, or Waddell and Reed. Plan to start law school in 2008  Marilyn Li (Alpha Mu), B.S. Marketing—Globetrotting David Lockwood (Gamma Iota), Bachelor's in Business Management and International Business—Plan on working as either an HR professional or on a Logistics/Freight Transportation Management team Megan Lunsford (Alpha Mu), B.S. Marketing Brooke Malman (Alpha Mu), B.S. Accounting—Going to work for McGladrey and Pullen/RSM McGladrey Brian Miller (Alpha Mu), B.S. LTSCM and Operations Management—Going to work for Lockheed Martin as an Operations Engineer in Operations Leadership Development Program Andrea Molina-Teran (Delta Sigma), B.B.A. International Business—Plan to teach English for a year in Argentina Monica Mylnaryk (Alpha Mu), B.S. Marketing—Going to work for MFR Consultants, Inc as a Marketing Consultant James Olson (Gamma Iota) Text Box: Keep up on what’s going on in Phi Chi Theta—For example, many of you are moving to areas where there is an Alumni chapter in the area. Even if you choose not to join, you can still be on the distribution list. The same goes for collegiate chapters. Many of our collegiate chapters are suffering from lack of alumni support and they would love to know of a new alumnus in their area. They can also put you in touch with other alumni in the area, which is one way to build your new professional network as well. Bookmark the Foundation’s web site at http://www.phichitheta.org/foundation/foundation.htm and Phi Chi Theta’s web site, and visit us once a month or so. Both sites receive regular updates and are becoming more information-rich. Download the latest issue of The Iris and read it. The Foundation usually has at least a blurb in each issue. Text Box: Keep in Touch and Help Support the Next Generation—Finally, do not forget to share your contact info with the Fraternity and the Foundation. This is especially true when you change jobs, get married, or even change e-mail addresses or snail-mail addresses. We love to hear from you and find out how you are doing, and of course, we would like to let you know how we are doing as well, but if we cannot contact you this becomes difficult. Remember, once a Phi Chi Theta always a Phi Chi Theta. We understand that finances are usually tight after graduation as you take on new priorities, but they will not always be that way. We do ask that you do not stop thinking about us, maintain your contacts, and give what you can when you can even if it is 5 years from now. We hope that you will find a way to “give back” so that future generations can share and experience in the business education and training opportunities afforded to every member.

Past Scholarship Winners—Where Are They At Now?

For this issue of eEdNews, we asked Mary Ellen Lewis, Treasurer and Scholarship Chair to catch up with our past scholarship winners and find out “where are they at now”.  We asked them to tell us about where they are at today in their career, Phi Chi Theta, and personal/family.  We also asked them to share a quote about how the Phi Chi Theta experience and winning the scholarship has helped them in their "beyond" college days/professional and personal life.  Here is “Where They Are At Now.”

Text Box: Helen Tran, Beta Theta Sam Houston State University at Huntsville Anna E. Hall/Helen D. Snow Scholarship – 2004